Research interests

My research interests include the question of whether religious belief and ritual behavior have an adaptive significance in a social and ecological context. In order to tackle this question, I am currently examining whether variance in cross-cultural data concerning various aspects of religious belief can be explained by environmental constraints. By considering coordination problems I am additionally exploring ecological models of territoriality, landmark use and conservation practices. As part of my doctoral research I studied underlying theories of cooperation in social dilemmas and conducted economic games with human subjects. I am also interested in conservation and have research experience associated with non-human primates, rainforest ecology and community based forest management.